The Pirates announced on Thursday that they’ve claimed righty Shane Carle off waivers from the Rockies and designated right-hander Johnny Barbato for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Carle was designated for assignment last week when the Rockies signed Wade Davis.
Carle, 26, made his Major League debut with the Rockies last year, tossing four innings and yielding three runs on six hits and no walks with four punchouts. He averaged 93.6 mph on his heater in that brief four-inning sample and spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A, where he struggled to a 5.37 ERA in an extremely hitter-friendly setting. Carle averaged 7.3 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 with a 43.9 percent ground-ball rate in Albuquerque — his second go-around at that level.
Carle was initially drafted by the Pirates back in 2013, though Pittsburgh traded him to Colorado in exchange for righty Rob Scahill about 18 months later. He has a pair of minor league options remaining, so the Bucs can send him to Triple-A this spring without needing to expose him to waivers.
Barbato, 25, posted a 4.08 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 5.7 BB/9 and a 37.9 percent grounder rate in 28 2/3 frames out of the Pittsburgh ’pen last season. He turned in more encouraging K/BB numbers and a solid 3.06 ERA in 35 1/3 Triple-A innings with the Pirates, but Barbato also averaged a gaudy 1.78 HR/9 while pitching in Triple-A. That, paired with his control problems in the Majors, may have made him expendable in the Pirates’ eyes.
Barbato averages better than 94 mph on his fastball and has averaged better than a strikeout per inning over the vast majority of his career, including upper-minors stints with the Yankees and Pirates in recent seasons. He still has a minor league option remaining, so another club in need of bullpen depth could pick him up and hope to better help him harness his command with a change of scenery.
Seems like a step down
Didn’t they draft him several yrs ago?
yeah the pirates drafted him
The article says it was in 2013 and they traded him to Colorado in 2014. May not be a step down as opined by Chrysostom. Numbers are skewed by pitching in Colorado and the PCL is extremely hitter friendly. We shall see.
Barbato has a really good arm. Hopefully he sticks somewhere. He had command problems with his breaking stuff when he was in ny
Garbage in, garbage out. Barbato can’t throw the ball over the plate, and Carle throw it over the plate shouldn’t because his stuff isn’t good enough.
Oops…. *shouldn’t throw the ball over the plate….
Personally, I like Barbato better than Carle. There’s little doubt in my mind that Barbato will find himself on another 40 man roster within the next week or so
Bring him back Cash…. let Rothschild work with him again…. bullpen depth
Who?
Everyone says Shane Carle is the right handed Clayton Kershaw but i don’t see it. My neighbor told me this just last week. My coworkers all said it last season. I guess we will find out.
I think every Pirate fan has it in the back of his mind that this could very well end up being their biggest move of the offseason once all is said and done. Bucs clearly allergic to significant transactions.
Your kidding right? Pirate fan to a chump, this move makes little sense. Another losing season to start a streak again. *sighs*
You’re making my point. All we’re gonna hear this winter is Pirate trade talk, but no trade will be made. The front office equates chatter with action. Like so many teams they overvalue their players and are waiting for a chump to come along and overpay. All the while their stupidity is rewarded with a 4th place division finish that requires a business-speak explanation.
If you do not have to make a move, you don’t dump the players for nothing. You hold out for something of value. That is why many teams don;t just dump a player just to get rid of them. If the Pirates traded Cole, Cutch, and Harrison for a low end return, then the fans would be screaming worse. They have no urgency to move anyone at this moment so they are trying to get the best possible deal they can. No team just dumps a guy for nothing unless the guy plain can’t play or is a talent but toxic in the locker room. None of these 3 fit that mold. At least, not yet….
Yeah, Melancon for Rivero and Hearn was pretty lame…..